Warm welcome
Crisp October air, the sound of the Spirit of the Mountain Marching Band playing to the beat and thousands of die-hard past and present Liberty Flames will all gather together for one weekend celebration.
Mark your calendar for Homecoming weekend Oct. 19 – 21 for several events hosted by Student Activities to celebrate the Homecoming of Liberty alumni and students.
“It’s something that only happens once a year, and you won’t regret coming out and seeing all of these people,” Erin Diaz Cleveland, assistant director of student activities, said. “It’s just a really fun atmosphere and such an exciting weekend for everyone.”
The weekend will be kicked off by a bonfire Friday night at 7 p.m. in the Zone 4 parking lot. Join the Flames football captains and enjoy food and live music for the return of a Liberty tradition.
“It’s the first time we are doing a bonfire in years, and we are really excited to bring it back and hopefully make it bigger and better,” Diaz said. “We are going to have food trucks, a performance by Humble Tip and lots of other exciting things.”
Saturday Oct. 20 on the Montview Lawn at 10 a.m. there will be a tailgate with corn hole, Spikeball and snacks provided by Student Activities.
“We want to provide places and events for people, who whether they are alumni or students, are able to come and have a good time together,” Diaz said.
Directly following, at 11:15 a.m. will be the Homecoming Parade. Galivanting down University Boulevard, clubs, organizations and departments will be sporting their school spirit on carefully crafted floats vying for the $500 first place prize.
“Usually it’s a fight between nursing and psychology,” Diaz said. “They always bring their A game.”
This little-known Homecoming rivalry between the Nursing Department and Psychology Department has been a long-standing competition that brings together the students and faculty of each department with the common goal of winning best parade float.
“It has become a staple of LUNSA (Liberty University Nursing Student Association),” Dr. Dana Woody, associate professor and faculty advisory of LUNSA, said. “Everybody’s involved, from the students to the staff, and often times it gets a little heated in DeMoss on Homecoming week.”
This healthy competition has at times escalated to sabotage and pranks of black flowers, mannequins, signs that say, ‘beat nursing’ or ‘beat psych’ and little notes.
“At the end when all of it is said and done, and most of the time when we walk away with the prize, we always send them a black cake the next day,” Woody said.
The 2018 Homecoming Parade will start at 11:15 a.m. on Oct. 20. More information about participating in the parade, as well as other Homecoming events, can be found on the Student Activities website.